Jesus does Hosea

Hosea 2:19-20
I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.

I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the LORD.

As I read Hosea today, I could not help but see the picture in Revelation 19 of the wedding of the Lamb!
In Christ this prophecy of Hosea's will be fulfilled.
It is quite a thing to be caught between these two passages, awaiting the day when to two will become one. New and Old mesh into a single thread of prophecy fulfillment!
The passage in Revelation says that the "bride has made herself ready." She is adorned in white, a white that claims its color from the righteousness of the saints of God. She is beautiful and he has come to sweep her off her feet. I love the idea that she has made herself ready. She is indeed, expecting his return. If Christ is the fulfillment of Hosea, the church should be the fulfillment of those words of readiness. We should be a beautiful bride dressed in white, a white that is not of a righteousness of our own that comes from the law, but that which is by faith! So put off your jealousy, fits of rage, grumbling, gossip, back biting and all sorts of evil and dress again in the clothes given to you at the time of your death and resurrection in Christ!
Our suitor has gone to prepare a place for us, but mark His words, He will come back again!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

I sing the song let it snow as my prayer for snow, I'm pretty sure God thinks it is wonderfully entertaining, and I find it rather pleasant to sing. My only complaint is I keep missing the snow. Last year during the big snow I was in Chicago with only flurries, this year it skips over us and hits Wichita. I believe that enough of us sing this song as our snow prayer, that maybe, just maybe, God will dump on us and we will all get to go sledding and drink hot chocolate.
Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Greek Tools

Today I begin my first Masters course. It is a Greek Language Tools class. It looks like it will be pretty simple, I have 9 tasks I have to complete. Hopefully I can stay on course and get through it. I am such a flake about stuff, I am just concerned that I won't follow through. I would love all of your prayers for this... Thanks!

Rocky...

Man, I love Rocky, I can't wait to see this movie when it comes out. Here is a preview for those of you who haven't seen it yet...

It would be so nice, to grow old with you...

Last night I preached on the story surrounding the birth of John the Baptist. I realized shortly before I got up that the last time in the history of Israel when an elderly couple got pregnant was with good ol Abraham & Sarah. Through their child Issac and his child Jacob, would come the whole nation of Israel. The first covenant between God and man came from the birth announcements sent out by this old couple. We fast forward a couple thousand years and again we have a barren elderly couple who has faithfully followed the Lord. Except this time their child will usher in the new covenant not through his bloodline, but by his preaching and pointing people towards the messiah. I think it is as if God is saying, "this covenant I am now bringing will be similar in form to the old but will far surpass it in every way..."

Broke Bread

I understand the desire in churches to return to the pattern found in Acts, whatever that may be. One thing that is interesting to me is Acts 2:46-47 where it talks about the believers meeting to break bread in their homes, this follows vs 42 where they speak of devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 46 starts by saying "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts...". Every day. I wonder if this is the reasoning behind Catholic Mass every day of the week. These folks lived in community with one another. As the church we do not hold to having a true fellowship like this. I wonder what would happen if we began to devote ourselves to a more full living out of the early church's pattern?
If I had a time every day for my students to gather together, would they? Would adults? Should we? I'm not sure yet...

32 of 72

This past weekend, Friday - Sunday I drove for 32 hours in a 72 hour time span... We went down to Pharr, TX. (we were right north of the pool) for Jenni's grandparents 50th. It was a good time and it stretched my manhood for driving. I did all of the driving except for 2 hours from Medicine Lodge to there and back. The whole way down and back when people were sleeping I listened to Mark Moore sermons, they were really good, very challenging (worth the listen, especially the series on Revelation)...
I had a lot to think about as I drove, I will try and articulate some of my thoughts later...